It is 1911, and the TARDIS lands in the home of sibling scientists
Laurence and Marcus Scarman. Laurence desperately needs the Doctor's help,
since his brother has been behaving very oddly ever since returning from
an archaeological dig in Egypt. To confuse matters further, Laurence has
begun detecting strange radio signals from the surface of Mars. The Doctor
discovers that Marcus has become the avatar on Earth of Sutekh, a powerful
alien Osirian imprisoned centuries earlier by his people for his terrible
crimes. Now Sutekh is using Marcus to regain his freedom, and herald the
end of the world.

Production

Amongst the new writers considered by incoming Doctor Who script
editor Robert Holmes was Lewis Greifer. In addition to story-editing for
ATV, Greifer had created the series Who-Dun-It, and had also
written for programmes such as The Prisoner and Ghost Squad
under the pseudonym “Joshua Adam”. Aware that Greifer had an
interest in Egyptian mythology, Holmes suggested that he consider an
adventure which would combine science-fiction with the trappings of mummy
horror films, such as Universal's 1932 movie The Mummy, and the
1959 Hammer Films production of the same name.

With these ideas in mind, Greifer submitted a storyline in July 1974
entitled Pyramids Of Mars. In it, the Doctor and his companion
(generically referred to as “Jane”) attend a conference on
food reserves at the British Museum, along with UNIT's Brigadier
Lethbridge Stewart (who it was suggested might be killed off during the
adventure). The Doctor's friend Professor Fawzi and his partner, Dr
Robertson, are there to unveil their work on a new type of grain which
can flourish on the surface of the Moon, thereby solving the world's
hunger problems. However, the conference is soon attacked by the
crocodile-like Egyptian god Sebek and his army of mummies. Sebek and his
master, Seth, are aliens who came to Earth millennia ago intent on
conquest, but were placed in suspended animation via a powerful artefact
called the Eye wielded by Horus, another of their kind. Having reawakened,
they now intend to replace Fawzi and Robertson's grain with one which will
result in the Moon's disintegration -- which, in turn, will have
catastrophic effects on Earth. The Doctor manages to locate Seth's resting
place beneath an Egyptian pyramid, and is assisted by Horus and another
deity, Isis, in defeating Seth and destroying the probe in mid-flight.

Despite grave misgivings with regard to Greifer's understanding of
Doctor Who's format, Holmes met with the author on July 4th. He
suggested that the would-be gods could actually be from Mars, having fled
the planet after it was devastated by galactic conflict. Holmes disliked
the idea of the special grain, and instead recommended that the Earth
project be one to begin the transformation of Mars' surface into a
habitable environment. Seth would attempt to hijack the mission, his goal
being to fire a rocket at the Great Pyramid of Mars where his jailers
still sleep in suspended animation. Holmes also encouraged Greifer to
establish scientific explanations for some of the supernatural phenomena
he described. Producer Barry Letts, who was in the process of handing over
to his successor, Philip Hinchcliffe, thought that the Egyptian gods might
actually originate from different planets outside our solar system,
explaining why their physical forms vary greatly.

Holmes formally commissioned Greifer to write a storyline for Pyramids
Of Mars on July 8th. At this point, he was considering the possibility
of making a search for the Eye of Horus -- which would disappear at the
story's climax -- a recurring theme in subsequent adventures. Holmes
continued to have reservations about Pyramids Of Mars even after
Greifer submitted his revised outline, but still contracted the writer to
script the four episodes on July 23rd. Greifer's story now involved a
fortune hunter named Hennessy who, at Fawzi's behest, is pursuing ancient
wild rice hidden in an Egyptian sarcophagus, which is also the target of
Shebek (as Sebek had been renamed).

Greifer delivered the script for episode one on October 7th; this prompted
Holmes to advise the writer that he was straying too far away from the
mummy horror movie premise. Matters deteriorated from there. First,
Greifer was taken badly ill, delaying the completion of the final three
installments. Then, Holmes discovered that these were unsuitable for
broadcast, failing to tie up key plot points and lacking a suitable
emphasis on the Doctor's role. In late November, Greifer left England for
Tel Aviv University in Israel, where he had previously committed to a
teaching position.

Finally, on March 7th, 1975, Holmes informed Greifer's agent that his
client's scripts would be abandoned. With production looming, Holmes was
forced to rewrite the adventure from scratch. He was assisted by Paddy
Russell, who had been assigned to direct the story; Russell's last
Doctor Who work had been on Invasion Of The
Dinosaurs two years before. Jettisoning most of Greifer's concepts
-- such as the modern-day setting, UNIT, and Shebek -- Holmes instead
situated the action in 1911, allowing him to better pay homage to the
mummy horror genre. Seth became the focal villain, with Holmes referring
to the character as Set and then Sutekh, both alternative names for the
deity in Egyptian mythology.

The visit to the devastated 1980 was intended to offset
the presumption that threats encountered in historical stories didn't
matter

Holmes also took the opportunity to include a scene in the second episode
which depicted how the events of 1911 could change Sarah Jane's
“present”. He felt that this would help offset the general
presumption by viewers that threats encountered in historical stories
didn't matter, since modern-day Earth has been seen to endure in other
Doctor Who serials. Hinchcliffe, meanwhile, suggested the inclusion
of the logic puzzle in the concluding installment, drawing on Franz
Kafka's 1926 novel The Castle. The character of Ernie Clements was
intended to survive the story in Holmes' original version, but Russell
elected to kill him off instead.

The frustrating series of events that led to Holmes penning a completely
new version of Pyramids Of Mars prompted Hinchcliffe to secure from
Graeme McDonald, the Head of Serials, a special dispensation for Holmes to
write up to two Doctor Who adventures per season. This was highly
unusual, given the disapproval with which the BBC viewed script editors
writing for their own series.

Pyramids Of Mars was scheduled to be the first story of Doctor
Who's thirteenth recording block, and given the production code
Serial 4G. Initially, it was also envisioned as the first adventure to air
as part of Season Thirteen, but these plans changed when the BBC decided
to bring forward the broadcast of the new season to autumn 1975 rather
than early 1976. With Terror Of The Zygons
now being held over from the twelfth production block to begin Season
Thirteen, consideration was given to pushing Pyramids Of Mars as
far back as fourth. Ultimately, it was decided to swap it in the running
order with Planet Of Evil, the next story to
be made, to avoid beginning the season with two Earthbound serials.

Location filming for Pyramids Of Mars took place on the grounds of
Stargrove Manor in East End, Hampshire. At the time, the property was
owned by Mick Jagger, lead singer of the Rolling Stones. Work at
Stargrove began on April 29th, and continued until May 2nd. This was
followed by three days of model filming, from May 7th to 9th, at the BBC
Television Centre Puppet Theatre.

Lewis Greifer requested the removal of his name from a
serial which bore almost no resemblance to what he had written

For the thirteenth production block, Doctor Who was chiefly taped
in two-day studio blocks on fortnightly Mondays and Tuesdays. For
Pyramids Of Mars, the first of these sessions occurred in BBC
Television Centre Studio 3 on May 19th and 20th. These days focussed on
completing the majority of episodes one and two, respectively, although
Russell also opted to tape part four's TARDIS scene on the 20th, to avoid
erecting the set again. Two more days of model filming then took place on
the 22nd and 23rd.

Recording concluded with the second studio block on June 2nd and 3rd, this
time in TC6. Episode three was taped on the first day, alongside the
initial four scenes of the final installment, material in Sutekh's prison
and the organ room for part two, and the opening Egyptian tomb sequence
for part one. The rest of episode four was then recorded on the 3rd. By
this time, Lewis Greifer had requested the removal of his name from a
serial which bore almost no resemblance to what he had written; instead,
Pyramids Of Mars bore an onscreen credit to the pseudonymous
“Stephen Harris”.